Electroporation in Cancer Therapy, and Beauty in Physics

This event is supported by voluntary donations. Please consider making a donation when reserving your ticket or becoming a member of the branch.

The Royal Society Te Apārangi and its Wellington Branch will host a special lecture from Emeritus Professor John Lekner of Victoria University of Wellington. That same evening we will present Professor Lekner with the inaugural Royal Society of New Zealand Wellington Branch Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to science. We hope that you will attend and be a part of the discussion afterward.

Abstract

Part 1: A tribute to three colleagues who died of cancer, and a description of electroporation in the delivery of anti-cancer drugs, for which the author has explored a new method.

Part 2: A look at theoretical physics, picking out some aesthetically pleasing results. Topics covered will be from electrostatics, electrodynamics, fluid flow and quantum mechanics.

Biography

John Lekner is Emeritus Professor of theoretical physics at Victoria University of Wellington. After an MSc at the University of Auckland and PhD at the University of Chicago, he taught at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where he was also Fellow and Tutor in Physics at Emmanuel College. He has worked in statistical physics, electromagnetism, quantum theory and fluid flow. He is the author of 178 papers and of the books Theory of Reflection (2ed, Springer 2016), Theory of Electromagnetic Beams (Springer 2020), Electrostatics of Conducting Cylinders and Spheres (AIP 2021), and Theory of Electromagnetic Pulses (2ed, IOP 2024).